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%^t Carpet p;aii«fattu;re. 



A STATEMENT OF FACTS 



ADDRESSED TO THE 



UNITED-STATES REVENUE COMMISSION. 



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BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

1866. 






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STATEMENT. 



To the United- States Revenue Commission. 

Gentlemen, — The undersigned, representatives of five of 
the large Carpet Manufacturing Companies of the United 
States, employing an aggregate capital of $6,600,000, — viz., 
George Roberts, Treasurer of the Hartford Carpet Company, 
Connecticut ; E. S. Higgins, partner of the firm of E. S. Hig- 
gins & Co., New-York City ; Samuel Fay, Superintendent of 
the Lowell Manufticturing Company, Lowell, Mass. ; M. H. 
Simpson, President of the Roxbury Carpet Company, Rox- 
bury, Mass. ; and Charles A. Whiting, Treasurer of the Bige- 
low Carpet Company, Clinton, Mass., — in response to your 
inquires in relation to the condition and wants of the great 
industries of the country, with a view of reporting to Con- 
gress upon the subject of raising revenue by taxation, re- 
spectfully submit the following statement in regard to the 
carpet manufacture. 

The carpets manufactured in this country consist largely 
of three varieties : viz., two-ply- and three-ply ingrain car- 
pets ; tapestry Brussels and tapestry velvet carpets, printed 
on the warps ; and Brussels and Wilton carpets, wrought by 
the Jacquard machine. Venetian and other descriptions of 
carpets are also made here, and likewise mats and rugs ; but 
the peculiar condition and wants of this important branch of 
industry can be fully understood by a consideration of the 
facts applicable to the three varieties of carpets above desig- 
nated. 



In the manufacture of carpets, no domestic wools are used, 
for the reason that they are not only too costly, but too •fine 
to make a serviceable fabric. Canada combing-wool is used 
to a limited extent ; but the main supply comes from Russia, 
Asia, and South America. 

The wools used for carpets are subjected to the process 
called " combing," whereby the long fibres are separated from 
the shorter ones ; the former being called worsted, and the 
latter noils. In ingrain carpets, the worsted forms the warp, 
and the noils the filling; whereas, in tapestry carpets and in 
Jacquard-wrought Brussels and Wilton carpets, only the 
worsted is used : flax or tow being used for the filling and a 
part of the warp, thus leaving the noils to be disposed of for 
other purposes. The market price of the noils is usually 
considerably below their cost ; subjecting the manufacturer 
to a loss on the sale of them, which loss increases in a ratio 
greater than the cost of the wools from which they are made 
increases : consequently, the greater the duty on the wools, 
the greater the loss on the noils. 

For carpets, both washed and unwashed coarse wools are 
used. The washed wools — such, for example, as Donskoi, Cor- 
dova, Montevideo, Rio Grande, and Persian — pay a duty of six 
cents a pound, and together produce an average of sixty- four 
per centum of their weight of finished goods ; and the un- 
leashed — such as Smyrna, Chilian, Valparaiso, and other South- 
American wools — pay a duty of three cents a pound, and 
average to produce thirty-two per centum of their weight of 
finished goods : that is, one hundred pounds of the various 
washed wools will produce an average of sixty-four pounds 
of finished goods ; and one hundred pounds of the unwashed, 
thirty-two pounds of finished goods. 

For particular colors in fine carpets, Canada combing-wool 
is indispensable ; and if, after the expiration of the recipro- 
city treaty, it shall be subjected to the tarifi" of twelve cents 
a pound, and ten per centum ad valorem, the manufacture of 
such carpets will be very seriously embarrassed. 



According to the English custom-house returns, the " de- 
clared value " (the value in England) of British carpets and 
druggets exported to the United States, in each year, from 
1860 to 1864 inclusive, was as follows: viz., in 1860, X360,- 
140; in 1861, X126,934 ; in 1862, £237,204; in 1863, £268,- 
318, and in 1864, £280,442,— showing a decline during the 
last year of the war, as compared with the year previous to 
the war, of only £79,698. 

From the best sources of information accessible, we esti- 
mate the present annual value of the carpets manufactured 
in the United States at $15,000,000 ; the capital employed 
therein, at $10,000,000 ; and the number of persons who de- 
rive their means of support therefrom, 10,000, — more than 
5,000 being actually employed in the mills and workshops. 

Though the existing duties on carpets may appear to be 
high, apart from the premium on gold, they afford very little 
protection to the manufacturer, for the reason that they are 
so largely neutralized by the duties on the wools and other 
imported materials used, the internal taxes, and the advance 
in wages and expenses, consequent upon the war. 



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The statements in the above table, including the valuation 
of the carpets on which the internal tax is computed, are 
based on gold at ^ar. They show, that, under the present 
adjustment of the tariff and internal-tax laws, with gold at 
par, the three principal varieties of carpets made in the 
United States — after deducting, from the amount of customs 
duties imposed on the manufactured article, the amount of 
the neutralizing duties, taxes, &c. — receive an average actual 
protection of less than seven and a half^er centum; the high- 
est rate on any one description being eleven and a half j^er 
centum^ and the lowest four and a half jper centum. 

In deducing these results, no allowance is made for the 
impending duty on Canada wool, nor for the increased loss 
on the noils consequent upon the existing duties on other 
wools, as above explained. 

The premium on gold, of course, gives a protection addi- 
tional to the percentages above given, in the ratio in which 
the gold-cost of the imported carpets exceeds the gold-cost 
of the imported materials used by the home manufacturer, 
and, at its present rate (forty-five 'per centum^, makes the 
aggregate amount of protection ample. But this form of 
protection is fluctuating and unreliable, and will wholly cease 
when gold falls to par. With a decline in gold, wages and 
expenses may decline somewhat, but not at once ; nor can 
they ever fall to the standard which prevailed before the 
war, w^iile the cost of the articles of subsistence is so largely 
enhanced by taxation. From the foregoing facts, it must be 
obvious to all acquainted with the conditions of manufactur- 
ing success in the United States, that, though the carpet 
manufacture, by reason of the premium on gold, is now 
amply protected under the existing revenue-laws, it will 
nevertheless be exposed to a ruinous foreign competition 
whenever the protection afforded by the gold-premium shall 
be withdrawn. 

The carpet manufacture requires more complex, and conse- 
quently more costly, machinery, in proportion to the value of 



8 

its product, than that used in the manufacture of woollens ; and 
some branches of it are of comparatively recent .growth. 
Considering these facts, and the advantages which low 
wages, abundant capital, long-established and widely ex- 
tended business connections, give to our foreign competitors, 
no specific duty on carpets amounting to less than twenty- 
five per centum ad valorem^ above all neutralizing duties and 
taxes, would equalize these conditions, and place us on a fair 
basis of competition with them. In view of the large 
amount of capital invested in the carpet manufacture, and 
the great number of persons dependent upon it for their 
support, we would express the hope, that, in any re-adjust- 
ment of the tariff and internal-revenue laws which may 
be made, due consideration may be given to its peculiar 
necessities. 

Very respectfully, 

SAMUEL FAY, 

Supt. Lowell Manufacturing Go. 

M. H. SIMPSON, 

President Roxhury Carpet Co. 

CHARLES A. WHITING, 

Treasurer of Bigelow Carpet Co. 

GEORGE ROBERTS, 

Treasurer of Hartford Carpet Co. 

E. S. HIGGINS, 

Of the firm E. S. Biggins & Co., 

New York. 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts,) 
County op Suffolk. ) 

January 12, 1866. 

Then personally appeared the above-named Samuel Fay, 

Superintendent of the Lowell Manufacturing Company ; M. 

H. Simpson, President of the Roxbury Carpet Company ; and 



Charles A. Whiting, Treasurer of the Bigelow Carpet Com- 
pany, and severally made oath that the foregoing printed 
statement, by them subscribed, is, according to their best 
knowledge and belief, true. 

Before me. 



[Stamp.] 

State of Connecticut, 
County of Hartford. 



A. W. ADAMS, 

Justice of the Peace. 



January 13, 1864 



Then personally appeared George Roberts, Treasurer of 
the Hartford Carpet Company, and made oath that the fore- 
going statement, by him subscribed, is true to the best of his 
knowledge and belief. 

Before me, 

ROBERT E. DAY, 

Justice of the Peace. 
[Stamp.] 

City and County of New York, ss. 

On this 18th day of January, 1866, personally appeared 
before me Elias S. Higgins, of the firm of E. S. Higgins k 
Co., and made oath that the foregoing printed statement by 
him subscribed, in accordance to his best knowledge and 
belief to be true. 

H. FAY, 

Commissioner of Deeds. 
[Stamp.] 



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